Jody Holland Blog

I remember when I was in Junior High and living in a small town in Texas. One of the joys that my buddy Ken and I had was the joy of the prank. We would put shaving cream in people’s mufflers and then wait for them to start their car. It would shoot the shaving cream out of the pipe and hit whatever was next to it. We would put Vaseline under the door handles on a vehicle and wait for the people to open their car door. Inevitably, they would look at their hand and make a funny face as they tried to figure out what had just happened. We would even “ding-dong-ditch” people’s houses. This is where you go up and ring the doorbell and then run and hide as the people come out trying to figure out who just did that to them. We usually did this to pretty girls. For some reason we thought… Nothing says I Love You like ringing a doorbell and hiding in the bushes. Well, we grow up and mature, at least a little, and we have kids, and we get the tables turned on us. Last night I went out, after the doorbell rang, and found that my front yard looked like a crime scene. There was caution tape wrapped around my pickup. There was caution tape blocking off my porch. There was caution tape strung between my neighbor’s tree and my house. These boys did a fantastic job of making my place look, well, full of caution. When my wife and I went outside to survey the mayhem, I started laughing. I thought about how much fun this kind of stuff was when I was a kid. She asked me what I was laughing at and I told her that I was imagining how much fun they had putting it all together. This made her laugh and then we talked as we cleaned it up. Today’s pranks aren’t much different than the pranks that we did as kids. I will say that I was thankful for the caution tape because it is MUCH easier to clean up than toilet paper. So, to the high school boys, whoever you are, that pulled the prank, I say good job! That was creative, decorative, and funny! Never forget to smile at what happens and think about the joy of the prank. To Your Success,Jody N Holland

I want to start day 14 with acknowledging Tanner Archer for explaining his philosophy of simple joy to me. I had asked Tanner what it was that made him happy and he said, “Too many people, my age, run around stressing out about things that don’t really matter that much. I find that when I am stressed out, I take one hour out and just do the simple things that I really enjoy doing. For me, that would be a chilly night by the fire roasting marshmallows, or swimming. Once you pick the thing that you enjoy, you just take that hour and lose yourself in the activity. You don’t think about anything else but that one simple thing. When the hour is up, you can then tackle all of the problems in your day. The idea is to take that time to appreciate the simple things in life instead of constantly being upset or obsessed with our problems and stress. It always helps keep things in perspective for me.” I love Tanner’s philosophy. I believe that it is perspective that I need as well. I enjoy sitting in the mountains next to a fire, knowing that it is cold outside and I am warm inside with my family. Whether it is just for an hour or I am blessed with a weekend away, gaining perspective on life helps me to remember to not get wrapped up in the wrong things. When I find myself stressed out, freaked out, or overwhelmed, I am going to use Tanner’s philosophy. I am going to completely devote an hour to something that I love. I am going to turn off the noise and the distractions, and gain a little perspective. To Your Success,Jody Holland

Jody Holland

Jody is a writer, motivational speaker, consultant, and entrepreneur. He has been the keynote speaker at over 250 events around the world. Jody speaks more than 150 times per year at different programs, and he has given more than 10,000 speeches during his career.

Jody has written 16 books and has many more to come.

If you are interested in booking Jody for your conference or event, click the Contact Jody Holland button to contact him.